The present invention relates generally to the management of business processes, and more specifically, to determining a process outcome based on a computed probability and altering the path of a process instance based on an expediting rule.
In a Business Process Management (BPM) system automated and human process steps are orchestrated by process models. A user typically creates a process model by drawing a process diagram (e.g., flowcharts). Process diagrams comprise activities, which are typically represented as boxes, connected by control edges, which are typically represented by arrows from one activity to another. Process diagrams may contain conditional flow steps representing a choice between several possible branches in the diagram.
A contemporary process engine then creates process instances for individual cases, and executes the process by traversing the process diagram. Process instances are uniquely identified by a process instance identifier. Execution of the process instances is typically controlled by a process data model that represents the state of the process instance, including any data items associated to the process. The process engine typically enacts the order of execution as it is prescribed by the diagram. A contemporary BPM system also allocates and tracks utilization of resources required to perform the necessary process steps.